After nearly a full year in beta, Microsoft yesterday released Visual Studio LightSwitch 2011. Andrew Brust explains why LightSwitch defies categorization and is a lot more than just another framework-based tool for generating code.

As with any big shift in technology, a lot is at stake for developers. No one wants to make significant investments of money, attention and free time on something that will be a mere flash in the pan -- or even a stable, yet niche, technology.

Microsoft's current and former CEOs have opened the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for years. But Android's popularity at the show should push Microsoft to do something innovative on the tablet front.

Is Microsoft helping HTML5 and the Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) stack harm its own products and market position? Historically, Microsoft has struck a delicate balance in melding homegrown and external technologies into a cohesive stack and a winning strategy.